Hackney Half 2026. Three Races. Four Weeks. How things are actually looking.

The test of my mind this week, with family and pockets of noise motivating me that day: The Chemical Brothers and Micheal Jackson blasting in sections. Jess, my sister in-law, holding up a sign hitting the classic ‘BOOM SHAKALAKA‘.

Resting heart rate of 35 on the morning. Pro 4s on the feet for the first time since the Evo 3s got retired. On paper, every signal said go.

From kilometre one, the body said not today. Three races in four weeks had something to say.

Did I race myself into shape? Or was this one race too many? I’ll walk you through it, kilometre by kilometre. Did I hit any Japanese U-turn’s round all these bends?

Resting heart rate of 35. Fresh Pro 4s. Cool conditions. On paper, Hackney Half was the perfect set-up. From kilometre one, my legs said not today.

The hard halves teach you more than the easy ones ever will. Here's the 7/7/6/1 framework I use to race every half marathon, plus the three diagnostics Hackney just reminded me to take seriously — including the stride length read and the stairs test that will tell you more than your watch ever could.

If you've got a half on the horizon, this one is for you.

Let me walk you through Sunday from the start.

I woke up with a resting heart rate of 35. Bottom of my range. The number I only see when I’m in genuinely good shape. Fresh Pro 4s on. Conditions cooler than every previous Hackney I’d raced.

Third race in four weeks, sure. But the metrics said go.

Then kilometre one happened.

The legs had not read the same memo. Stride felt restricted. Hamstrings tight. Splits coming through at 3:17, 3:18, 3:18, which is bang on sub-70 pace. But the effort was telling me I was racing a 10K, not a half.

By kilometre two, the mental demons had already landed.

Have I raced myself into the shape of my life? Or am I about to find out I left it all in the last two?

This week in the hub: I breakdown what happened and what you can takeaway from my experience.

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Hackney told me the truth through one number on the watch summary. My average stride length came in at 1.57 metres. My PB stride sits at 1.72. The splits didn’t tell me. The stride did.

Here is a test you can run this week with zero equipment. No watch. No software. Just your house.

Run up your stairs at home, hard, for 30 seconds.

Count how many flights you complete.

Note your breathing at the top. Walk down.

Rest two minutes. Do it again.

Write the number down. Do the same test in two weeks. Compare them.

If the number drops at the same effort, you are fatigued or undertrained. If it climbs, you are getting fitter. Stride length, heart rate at threshold, easy run cadence all confirm the same thing. The stairs just do it for free.

The threshold builder. This is the session that lifts your half-marathon pace by lifting the gear underneath it.

→ Warm up 8 min easy + 4 strides
→ 4 × 4 min at threshold (10K–10-mile effort), 90 sec jog between
→ Cool down 6 min easy

Coach tip: the first rep should feel almost too easy. If it doesn't, you've gone out too hard — and you'll know it by rep three. Trust the slow start. The last rep is where the fitness gets made.

Run it once a week, 6–8 weeks out from your half. Same paces every week — when they start to feel easier, you're getting faster.

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